1.

Cements and Mineral Admixtures

Standard Cement Classifications:

• CEM I: Ordinary Portland cement.

o Strength comparison: CEM I 42.5 R gives higher strength than CEM I 42.5 N at
early ages. Conversely, CEM I 42.5 N gives lower strength than CEM I 42.5 R at
early ages.
• CEM II: Portland cement + one main addition (slag, silica fume, pozzolana, fly ash,
burnt shale, or limestone).
• CEM III: Blast-furnace cement.
• CEM IV: Pozzolanic cement.
• CEM V: Composite cement.
• Note: These families are classified by the percentage of clinker and the type of main
addition.
• Seawater Defense: The best type of cement for seawater attack is TYPE V (known as
seawater cement) or CEM I 42.5 N SR3.

Mineral Admixtures & Reactions:

• General Purpose: Added to increase strength, save energy, reduce pollution, reduce
permeability, improve durability, lower heat of hydration, reduce shrinkage cracks, and
lower cost.
• Hydraulic Reaction: Due to the reaction of material with H2O. This reaction is
positively affected by the increase of CaO content.
• Pozzolanic Reaction: Due to the reaction of material with Ca(OH)2+H2O.
o Factors that positively affect pozzolanic activity include SiO2+Al2O3+Fe2O3
content and the degree of amorphousness.
o Finer particles increase the reaction by providing more surface area.
• Fly Ash: Produced from coal combustion.
o Class F: From bituminous coal (mainly pozzolanic).
o Class C: Normally produced by burning lignite or sub-bituminous coal (has
more CaO, exhibiting both pozzolanic and hydraulic behavior).
• Silica Fume: Extremely fine (high SiO2). Makes concrete more cohesive, reduces
bleeding, improves pumpability, and greatly increases strength/durability.
• Blast-Furnace Slag: Exhibits both hydraulic and pozzolanic behavior when rapidly
cooled. Reduces heat of hydration, bleeding, and permeability.
• Metakaolin: Calcined clay. Improves strength and reduces steel corrosion.
• Rice Husk Ash: Improves permeability, chloride resistance, and corrosion resistance.
2. Chemical Admixtures
General Uses & Quality Control:

• Purpose: Added during mixing (0.2% to 3.5% of cement weight) to reduce cost, increase
strength, improve workability, control setting time, and reduce permeability/shrinkage.
• Approval Checks: Performance requirements and uniformity & equivalence
requirements are used for the approval of chemical admixtures.
o Performance testing: Compares a test mix to a control mix (same basic materials
and target slump). Performance requirements include checking setting
time and Air content.
o Uniformity tests: Check solid content, pH, chloride content, specific gravity, etc.

Admixture Types & Mechanisms:

• Type A (Water-Reducing): Reduces water while maintaining workability. Usually
based on lignosulfonic acids/salts and hydroxylated carboxylic acids. Note: The use of a
higher dose of water reducing admixtures than recommended causes bleeding.
• Type B (Retarding): Used to slow down the rate of hydration of cement and delay
setting time. Useful for hot weather and long transport.
• Type C (Accelerating): Helps to increase early strength and water
reducing (accelerates setting time). Used for early formwork removal or cold weather.
• Type D (Water-Reducing & Retarding): Combines benefits of Types A and B.
• Type E (Water-Reducing & Accelerating): Combines benefits of Types A and C.
• Type F (High-Range Water-Reducing / Superplasticizers): Helps to increase early
strength and water reducing. Used in heavily reinforced elements, pumping concrete,
and self-compacting concrete.
• Type G (High-Range Water-Reducing & Retarding): Combines superplasticizers with
set-retarding.
• Mechanisms: Plasticizers work by electrostatic repulsion. Polycarboxylate
superplasticizers utilize a dual mechanism of electrostatic repulsion and steric
dispersion.
• SMF and SNF: Sulphonated Melamine/Naphthalene Formaldehyde condensates lead
to both separating the cement particles and releasing the entrapped water.

Specific Chemicals:
• Calcium thiosulfate: Helps to reduce faster slump loss during hot weather.
• Tartaric acid and salts: Helps to reduce the required period of curing.
• Water soluble soaps of resin acids: Used to increase resistance to freezing and
thawing (Air-entraining). Air-entraining admixtures are used to create entrained air,
acting like a sponge against internal freezing pressure.
• Lignosulphonates and derivatives: Used to reduce water and delay setting time.
3. Fresh Concrete: Mixing, Placing & Workability
Mixing Rules & Temperatures:

• Green Concrete: Concrete from the beginning of the initial setting until the beginning of
hardening is called Green concrete.
• Cement Weight: During production, the error in cement weight should be less
than 1.0%.
• Temperature limits: The maximum permissible cement temperature when producing
concrete should not be more than 35°C. Hot weather increases setting rate and plastic
shrinkage risk.
• Water Quality: The maximum allowed T.D.S content in concrete mixing and curing
water is 2000 Part per million. The maximum difference between setting time prepared
using water from an unknown source compared with distilled water is 25%.

Workability:
• Definition: Ease of mixing, transporting, placing, compacting, and finishing.
• Measurement Tests: Measured using the Slump test, Compacting factor test, and Ve-Be
test. (The Remolding testdoes not measure workability).
• Factors enhancing (increasing) workability: Use of round aggregate, using
superplasticizers.
• Factors decreasing workability: Use of crushed aggregate, decreasing aggregate
nominal maximum size (due to higher surface area), and increasing sand content.
• Slump Test: Concrete slump is measured from the highest point. Self-compacting
concrete slump flow meets the specifications at 70 cm (or 60-80 cm). Pumping concrete
needs a minimum 150 mm slump.
• Ve-Be Time: * 5 seconds: Can be used in heavy steel reinforcement
elements AND narrow sections without using vibrations.
o 40 seconds: Indicates a stiff mix; can be used in Plain concrete.
• Compacting Factor: If concrete will be cast in heavy steel reinforcement elements, the
value should be More than 0.90. This test cannot be used for concrete containing coarse
aggregate with 45 mm maximum aggregate size.

Placing Techniques:

• Layering: Concrete with a large thickness must be poured in layers with a thickness
ranging from 300 to 500 mm.
• Underwater Concreting: Cast using the Tremi method. A famous problem during
underwater concreting is Cement washing.
• Shotcrete: Used for applications like Repair, Canal lining, and Irregular pools. The
maximum aggregate size in shotcrete is 10 mm.
• Curing: The typical curing period for concrete is 7 days.
4. Hardened Concrete: Strength, Deformation &
Testing
Strength & Quality:

• Concrete gains strength mainly from the chemical reaction of cement with water, not
evaporation.
• The higher the concrete compressive strength, the more brittle it becomes.
• Increasing the moisture content in concrete will reduce the strength.
• The statement "The lower the cement content, concrete properties are better" is true
for none of the properties generally.
• Modulus of Elasticity: The main factor affecting the concrete modulus of elasticity is
the properties of both cement paste and aggregate.

Deformation (Shrinkage & Creep):

• Plastic shrinkage: The rapid loss of water from the surface of concrete before setting.
Conditions that increase its possibility include high wind velocity, low humidity, and
high temperatures (but not the Elastic properties of aggregate). Synthetic fibers help
reduce this.
• Autogenous shrinkage: The dimensional change caused by chemical
shrinkage (reaction with water).
• Drying shrinkage: The loss of water of a concrete member during its service age.
• Creep: Time-dependent strain under sustained load. A time-dependent increase in strain
under sustained constant load of a sealed specimen is called basic creep.
• Environmental Factors: Relative humidity has a negative effect on shrinkage and
positive effect on creep.
• Aggregate Role: The long-term dimensional stability of concrete improves with the
increase of quantity of aggregate (True).

Hardness & Quality Testing:

• If the samples of concrete compressive strength fail to fulfill the required characteristic
strength, you must Do core test.
• Hardness is tested using the Schmidt hammer (judged by rebound, affected by gravity
and surface moisture).
5. Durability and Corrosion
• Sulfate Attack: This is a chemical deterioration. Consequences include the formation
of ettringite then monosulfate. Magnesium sulfate specifically affects the stability of
C-S-H.
• Alkali-Aggregate Reaction (AAR): Requires the presence of reactive
aggregate AND water. The Mortar bar test is used to check for AAR.
• Corrosion of Steel:
o The main driving force for corrosion is electrode potential. The metal with the
higher electrode potential will corrode slower.
o Corrosion rate increases rapidly when pH drops from 4 to 1.
o The most severe consequences of corrosion are spalling and delamination.
• Carbonation: Can be visualized by using triethanolamin.

6. Metals: Impact and Fatigue

• Impact Resistance: Tested via Charpy or Izod (measures absorbed energy).
o The lower the temperature of a metal, the higher its impact resistance.
o The impact resistance of steel decreases with decreasing yield strength.
o Units of impact resistance (Charpy Test) are Kg/mm2 AND [Link]/mm2.
• Fatigue: Failure under fluctuating stresses (often brittle-like).
o The most distinct part of cross-sections failed under fatigue loading is striation.
o The endurance limit is less than the yield stress. Polished surfaces improve fatigue
life.
7. Calculations & Step-by-Step Problem Solving
1. Water Reduction Requirements:

• To accept Type D & Type G admixtures (or Type B & Type C) according to ASTM
C494M-13, the reduction in water of the concrete mix should be: ≥(5.0% & 12.0%).

2. Compaction & Density Loss:

• If the fresh concrete density was reduced by about 5%, the compressive strength will
reduce by about: 35%.

3. Cement Factor Calculation:

• Question: Cement factor for concrete with a cement content of 200 kg per half cubic
meter is?
• Answer: 8.0.
• Steps: 200 kg per 0.5 m3 equals 400 kg per 1.0 m3. Assuming a standard cement sack
is 50 kg, 400/50=8 sacks.

4. Mineral Admixture Strength Calculation:

• Question: Mix A (100% cement) has an average 28-day compressive strength of 40 MPa.
Mix B contains 80% cement and 20% mineral admixture. If material B is pozzolanic,
what should the average strength of Mix B be?
• Answer: ≥30.0 MPa.
• Steps: Since Mix B has 80% of the cement of Mix A, the base cement strength
contributes about 0.80×40=32 MPa. With the pozzolanic addition contributing further
strength, the total strength must be at least ≥30 MPa.

5. Drying Shrinkage Strain Limits:

• Question: The ultimate drying shrinkage strain of cement paste/mortar is?

• Answer: >800×10−6 and ≤2000×10−6.

6. Splitting Tensile Tests:

• Question: In a standard splitting tensile test on a standard cylinder, if Pult=24.2 ton, the
tensile strength is?
• Answer: 3.0 MPa.
• Question: If Pult=240 kN, the tensile strength is?
• Answer: 3.4 MPa.

7. Bending Test (Modulus of Rupture):

 • Question: In a 3-point bending test with a span of 450 mm and 100×100 mm cross-
section, if the max load is 6.8 kN, the modulus of rupture is?
• Answer: 4.6 MPa.

8. Cube Compression Test (fcu):

• Question: If the ultimate load in a standard cube test is 813 kN, fcu is?
• Answer: 36 MPa. (Step: 813,000 N/(150×150 mm2)=36.13).
• Question: If the ultimate load is 1050 kN, fcu is?
• Answer: 46.7 MPa. (Step: 1,050,000 N/22,500 mm2=46.66).

9. Cylinder Compression Test (fcy):

• Question: If the ultimate load in a standard cylinder test is 813 kN, fcy is?
• Answer: 46 MPa. (Step: cylinder area ≈17671 mm2. 813,000/17671=46). (Note: 11.5
MPa is listed in standard notes for a different load/area context, but for the 2024 exact
exam question with 813 kN, the answer key resolves to 46 MPa).

10. Fatigue and Goodman Relation:

• Context given: Ultimate tensile strength = 600 MPa, yield stress = 420 MPa, fatigue
endurance limit = 240 MPa. Alternating stress (fr) is 0.4 of mean stress (fm).
• Question: Using the relation (fr/fe+fm/fu=1), the magnitude of alternating stress causing
failure is?
• Answer: 120 MPa.
• Question: The maximum stress (fmax) in this case is?
• Answer: 180 MPa.
• Question: The minimum stress (fmin) in this case is?
• Answer: 180 MPa. (Follows the provided paper key).
• Miner's Rule: If we consider 0.8 in Miner's rule, the design would be Conservative.

11. Modulus of Elasticity Tables:

• From the 2023 Table: Modulus of elasticity according to ASTM C469 is 36.9 GPa.
• From the 2023 Table: Modulus of elasticity according to ACI 318 / ESS is
approximately 30.2 GPa.
• From the 2024 Table: Modulus of elasticity according to ASTM C469 / ACI 318 / ESS
evaluates exactly to 22.2 GPa.